1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a device for increasing the speed of a printing process, and more particularly, to a method for increasing the speed of a printing process while maintaining the quality of printing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Please refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printing device 10 according to the prior art. FIG. 2 is a top view of the printing device 10 shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a relationship diagram showing the velocity dependence on position of a print head 12 of the printing device 10. The printing device 10 comprises a print head 12 for printing a document 14 in the print path 16. The print head 12 goes left and right in the X-direction when the printing device 10 prints the document 14. Please refer to FIG. 2, the print head 12 goes left and right between position A and position E to perform a plurality of printing procedures, and prints a document 14 in the print path 16 (between position B and position D). The print head 12 is designed to move at a constant velocity so that the print quality remains constant.
For convenience of illustration and comparison with the present invention, the print path 16 is divided into two divisions, a printing division 17 and a non-printing division 19 as shown in FIG. 2. The printing division 17 indicates a portion of the path 16 in which the print head does a printing action, meaning that the print head injects ink on a paper. The non-printing division 19 is a portion that excludes the printing division from the print path 16. As shown in FIG. 3, the print head 12 moves at a constant velocity (velocity I) in both the printing division 17 and the non-printing division 19 according to this prior art. For this reason, the printing device 10 according to the prior art prints at an unsatisfactorily slow rate.
It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide a method and a device for speeding up a printing process. According to the claimed invention, a print unit moves at a first velocity within a printing division, but moves at a higher velocity within a non-printing division if the non-printing division is included in the print path.
The claimed invention provides a method and a device for speeding up a printing process. The claimed invention includes a printing device for performing a plurality of printing procedures according to print data so as to print a document. The printing device has a print unit for printing the document in a left-and-right direction, a motor for driving the print unit left and right, and a control unit for controlling the velocity of the print unit. Before the printing device performs each of the printing procedures, the control unit separates a printing division from a path that the print unit passes through in the printing procedure and determines if the path includes a non-printing division according to the print data. When the print unit passes through the printing division, the print unit prints the document and moves at a first velocity. When the print unit passes through the non-printing division, the print unit stops printing the document and the control unit controls the print unit to move at a second velocity within the non-printing division.
It is an advantage of the claimed invention that the print unit moves at the first velocity within the printing division, and moves at the higher velocity within the non-printing division if the non-printing division is included in the print path. Therefore, not only is the printing process sped up, but the quality of the printing is also assured.